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 The Safdie brothers have been kicking around the indie scene for several years now with compelling works in both fiction and nonfiction, but their latest film, Heaven Knows What, blows the drat doors off. Based on the real life experiences of the film's main actress, Arielle Holmes, the film follows a group of heroin addicts just trying to get by in New York City. We open the film finding our protagonist, Harley, in the throes of a tortured romance with Ilya (Caleb Landry Jones, the only pro actor in the bunch), a good-for-nothing junkie who seems to get a kick out of devastating her emotionally. In turn she seeks the comfort of other friends and dealers, and the majority of the film follows her with cinema-verite levels of intimacy through midnight street parties, cramped apartments, and fast food restrooms. What's truly astonishing is that as much as most of the work carries a brand of brutal realism, it also glides effortlessly into moments of resplendent, dreamlike romance, where suddenly amid all the muck there's something unexpectedly romantic. This is aided by gorgeous cinematography and electronic compositions by Isao Tomita that snugly fit into this era I would contend is defined by the contemporary work of Cliff Martinez (or maybe it's the other way around). The opening credits of the picture feature a brilliant master shot inside a cramped space that I wouldn't even expect some of the great masters to pull off. I don't want to go into much more detail because I think the picture thrives on surprise. Heaven Knows What is exactly the kind of refreshing, unforgettable experience that the American independent scene can offer. REDBAND TRAILER  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxWMc7iHt8Q WORKSAFE TRAILER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBThfoOQI04  Heaven Knows What is starting in US theaters (probably NY and LA at first) on May 29.
Kull the Conqueror fucked around with this message at 00:16 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 22:50
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| # ? Apr 30, 2024 17:33 |
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I like the narration voice. "EXPLORE THE POWER OF THE MIND" "CLIMAX"
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May 19, 2015 22:49
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Here's the lineup for June. Now I'm just weirding myself out with how they only use one image and it mirrors my av:
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Jun 3, 2015 18:46
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One of the year's truly great movies. I love the raw lo-fi aesthetic that really brings the grime of these people to the forefront. It really does feel authentic. Like, these are all people I know in some form or another.
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Jun 23, 2015 02:03
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Just watched the redband trailer and it looks like a documentary on drugged out white trash IMO. Pass.
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Jun 23, 2015 05:39
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TrixRabbi posted:One of the year's truly great movies. I love the raw lo-fi aesthetic that really brings the grime of these people to the forefront. It really does feel authentic. Like, these are all people I know in some form or another. Let me ask you this. What happened for you when the cell phone firework explosion happened? That moment was so perfectly magical, romantic, and weird, that the whole film kind of came into focus right then and there. That whole sequence is absolutely enrapturing and beautiful, which is a real feat considering everything leading up to that point emphasizes how destructive and horrible their dynamic is. It just swept me up.
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Jun 30, 2015 17:20
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The fact that they keep using the same promo image over and over again kind of annoys me on some primal level.
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Jul 1, 2015 00:24
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This still-dope flick is on Netflix now.
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Mar 18, 2016 18:46
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Now that it's on Netflix I'll try to watch it.
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Mar 18, 2016 23:00
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This would make a great double feature with The Panic in Needle Park, also on Netflix. Young love on heroin in NYC.
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Mar 19, 2016 02:10
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| # ? Apr 30, 2024 17:33 |
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HP Hovercraft posted:This would make a great double feature with The Panic in Needle Park, also on Netflix. Young love on heroin in NYC. At the Q&A after the screening I went to Josh Safdie mentioned that before they started filming, they asked Jerry Schatzberg, Panic in Needle Park's director, for any insight into filming such a subject. He told them not to use junkies as actors because it was way too much trouble. They wound up completely ignoring his advice.
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Mar 19, 2016 07:21
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